insideKENT Magazine Issue 29 - August 2014 | Page 133

OUTDOORLIVING

Grow your own!
National Allotment Week // 4-10 August

Whether you’re growing in allotments, gardens or raised beds, here’s the
practical know-how you need from the Royal Horticultural Society to help
you grow your tastiest fruit and vegetables ever.
A plot inherited

Paths and boundaries

Successionally sow and intercrop

It is unusual to take over a pristine plot; many
are in very bad shape, covered in weeds, debris
and rubbish. The first step is looking at the plot
as a whole and identifying what will give most
pleasure and productivity.

Good access to all parts, with paths to tend and
gather your crops, is crucial. Paths within the
plot use cropping space and are best avoided,
but are essential for working beds.

To 'intercrop', you sow and harvest a quick crop
between a widely spaced, slow-growing crop.
Widely spaced Brussels sprouts, for example,
allow you to sow lettuce in early spring and crop
before the sprouts, which are planted in late
spring, grow too large. With skill (and good
weather) you can fit in a quick-growing crop
before or after the main crop is finished: early
peas allow for a quick crop of autumn turnips,
for example.

Pretty and practical
If looks come first, a plot may be laborious and
output may suffer: low, clipped hedges, for
example, are troublesome, and narrow paved
paths are awkward, inflexible and need a lot of
weeding.

Attractive additions
• Beans on wigwams and plantings of mixed
foliage types are both practical and pretty
• Sheds can be festooned with spring-flowering
clematis
• Raised beds with defined edges make it much
easier to keep the plot looking neat
• Compost bins are not things of beauty, but
can be positioned in the least-valued part of
your plot and disguised with ornamental plants
• Ponds, wildflower areas and other ornamental
features can be added without overly
compromising the productivity of your allotment.

Water wisely
Dip tanks filled from the mains are the commonest
watering arrangement on allotments.
Sprinklers, standpipes and hoses are rare, and
push rents up. Much water used on plots is
wasted. Water plants thoroughly in rotation,
rather than distributing water widely and thinly.
The cost of water is included in the rent and you
are expected to use it responsibly.

Permanent paths between raised beds can be
kept weed-free with a membrane or chipped
wood. Council tree contractors often supply
allotment sites with chipped timber. Temporary
paths can be left as b are soil.
Edges and boundaries are crucial to a well-kept
plot. Boards reduce the labour of trimming, often
at the busiest time of the growing season. At a
pinch, a narrow jet of a contact weedkiller along
the edge can prevent incursion of grass and
weeds.

Plan a rotation scheme
Never growing crops in the same place twice in
a row thwarts soil-borne pests and diseases.
For the crops a typical plot-holder grows, a fourcourse rotation is best. Each bed should grow,
in order:
Year 1: potatoes and tomatoes
Year 2: root vegetables (including onions)
Year 3: peas and broad beans
Year 4: brassicas
Pumpkins, squash, courgettes, French and runner
beans, sweetcorn and sweet potatoes have few
pests or diseases and can be slotted in where
convenient.

Mix up your crops
According to the theory of companion planting,
mixing plants together confuses insects, especially
if you mix a strongly scented plant such as French
marigolds with vulnerable crops such as runner
beans.

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Successional sowing at intervals spreads a crop
out: you might sow peas in early spring and then
again each time the last sowing is 5cm (2in) high
so they mature in turn without gluts.

Crop protection
Protection from the weather will boost growth
and exclude pests. Fleece is cheap and gives a
two-week ‘advance’ in spring-sown crops by
providing extra warmth and shelter from wind;
plastic cloches do slightly better. Both are
vulnerable to wind and other damage, and often
need netting over them.
Old windows are traditional allotment cold frames,
but are also easily broken. Proprietary frames
are expensive and you might think twice before
leaving them on the plot, but a well-made frame
can advance crops by up to a month, so it’s
worth exercising your creative skills.

www.rhs.org.uk